Henrik Rydström

Biography

Henrik Per-Erik Rydström (born 16 February 1976) is a Swedish professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of MLS club Columbus Crew. As of 2013, he was the sixth longest serving player in the world when it comes to playing for the same club. He made his debut for Kalmar in 1994 and played his last game for the team in 2013. He was a defensive midfielder known for a good passing foot and superb leadership on and off the pitch. In the spring of 2008, he was named best club captain of Allsvenskan in a vote from the players of the league. Henrik Rydström holds the club record for most games played for Kalmar with 802 games. He has held speeches for the Swedish Social Democratic Party. He stated in a podcast interview with local newspaper Sydsvenskan owned by Bonnier Group while manager for Malmö that he wants to "take the fight harder against the Sweden Democrats". This statement stirred reactions from the Sweden Democrats in Malmö who accused him of "bullying and excluding their voter base from welcome to Eleda Stadion". His statement furthermore marked a change in Malmö's neutral stance of outwards politics both regionally and nationally as a democratically membership owned football association as the press officer of Malmö attended the interview.